Article sorting apparatus



U/H/l/H 2 Sheets-Sheet 1- c. B. LUB BERT I ARTICLE SORTING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 24. 1937 July 30, 1940.

//VVE/VTOR C. aLl/BBERT By %J L'H Z 6-4? ATTORNEY July 30, 1940. c. B. LUBBERT ARTICLE SORTING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 24, 1937 l l I lIlIIlII/IIIIIIII lA/VEN TO'R c. a. L 0555/? 7' Z A TTOR/VEV Patented July 30, 1940 n PATENT OFFICE",

RTICL so-a'rING APPARATUS Carl Bernard Lubbert, Anneslie, Md., assignor to -Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New

York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 24, 1937, Serial No. 181,625

3 Claims.

This invention relates to an article sorting apparatus and more particularlyto an apparatus for sorting small articles such as washers, nuts and the like.

Small articles such as washers and nuts are frequently tinned or provided with some other suitable coating material which may result in some of the articles sticking together, in which form they cannot be readily utilized and should be sorted from the usable articles.

An object of the present invention is to provide an efficient and dependable article sorting apparatus.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention a slot is provided in the bottom of a hopper having a sloping wall, and the articles are agitated by an impeller so shaped as to lift the articles which do not pass through the slot out of the slot to retain them in the hopper while the satisfactory articles pass through the slot.

A complete understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation partly in section of an apparatus embodying the invention; and

of Fig. 1.

The apparatus is mounted on a base 3 havingv a pair of vertical standards 4. Each standard has an aperture for receiving a bearing 5 fixed in the standard by means of a pin 6. The inner ends of the bearings are enlarged to form hubs I having reduced ends on which the side walls 8 of the hopper housing are rotatably mounted. The hopper housing is completed by a back wall 9, a lower wall H which also serves as a chute for the sorted articles, a front wall l2 and a door l3 provided with a handle M. The housing is held in operative position by a spring-pressed plunger I5 which engages an aperture It in one of the side walls 8. The unsuitable articles remain in the hopper, and in order to remove them from the hopper the plunger l5 may be withdrawn from the aperture l6 by means of a hand wheel [1, permitting the entire housing to be rotated on the hubs I and tilted forwardly so as to discharge the unsuitable articles through the door.

The interior of the housing is divided into two sorting units by means of a V-shaped member l8 which extends from the front wall to a parfition I9. The partition l9 attached to member l8 extends from one of the walls 8 to the other 65 and prevents the articles from passing rearward- 1y beyond this point. In the upper part of the housing a second partition 2! is provided and is mounted on the partition [9, which prevents articles from passingto the rear of the housing in the upper portion of the housing.

Each of the side walls 8 is provided with a circular groove 22, and a closure member 23 for the groove extending from a point 24 to a point 25, as shown in Fig. 2, forms an enclosed channel in the upper portion of the housing for the purpose of preventing articles from entering the groove 22 in this portion of the housing. From the point 25 to the partition IS the groove 22 is open and the lower edge of the groove is tapered as shown at 26. The lower ends of the ridge member 3 form slots with the side walls B of such a width as to permit a single washer to pass therethrough and fall into the grooves 22 down the inclined surfaces 26 and into the chute formed by the lower wall ll of the housing. In order to" agitate the articles and prevent them from clogging these slots, the impellers 21 are provided, illustrated as having four blades, although any suitable number of blades may be used. The impellers are secured to a shaft 29 mounted in bearings 5 of the housing. Each of the blades of an impeller has at its outer end a forwardly extending toe 28, which as the impeller rotates passes through the slot formed between the ridge member l8 and the side walls 8 and lifts any articles that have not passed through the slot out of the slot and back into the hopper. In this manner jamming of the articles in the slot is prevented and different articles are continuously presented to the slot. When a large number of unsuitable articles have accumulated in the hopper the housing is tilted, as pointed out above, to discharge them, and another batch of articles is placed in the apparatus.

The shaft 29 on which the impellers are mounted is driven by means of a gear 3! frictionally coupled with the shaft. A friction plate 32 is secured to the shaft and has on its outer face a suitable friction material 33. Movable axially on the shaft, but fixed as to relative rotative motion, is a second plate 34 on the opposite side of the gear 3| which is forced against the gear by means of a spring 35, the tension of which may be adjusted by means of a nut 36. Thus if the impeller blades should become jammed, the

friction in the driving means is so adjusted that I the gear 3| will'slip without breaking the impeller blades.

bodiment of the invention herein described is merely illustrative and that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. in an article sorting apparatus for sorting disk-like articles, a pair of walls forming a tapering hopper having an arcuate slot substantially of the thickness of articles to be passed at its base, one of said walls comprising a substantially plane surface, and an impeller blade mounted on an axis substantially concentric with said slot, the portion of said blade operable in said slot having such a slope as to lift impassable articles from the slot.

2. In an article sorting apparatus for sorting disk-like articles, a hopper having a plane, vertical wall and a second wall sloping downwardly toward the vertical Wall, said walls forming at their base an arcuate slot substantially of the width of an article to be passed and of a depth to support an article upright therein, an impeller blade mounted adjacent said vertical wall on an axis substantially concentric with said slot, the portion of said blade operable in said slot having such a slope as to lift impassable articles from the slot.

3. In an article sorting apparatus for sorting disk-like articles, a hopper having a plane, vertical wall and a second wall sloping downwardly toward the vertical wall, said walls forming at their base an arcuate slot substantially of the width of an article to be passed and of a depth to support an article upright therein, an impeller blade mounted adjacent said vertical wall on an axis substantially concentric with said slot, the portion of said blade operable in said slot having such a slope as to lift impassable articles from the slot, a shaft upon which said impeller blade is mounted passing through the hopper, said hopper being tiltably supported on said shaft for dumping unsatisfactory articles, and means for locking the hopper in operative position.

CARL BERNARD LUBBERT. 

